It will be interesting to see if this is brought up at a daily White House briefing in the near future and, if so, whether or not it is denied. My gut feeling is this article has credibility. Citing “senior administration officials” usually means just that. If it’s not denied, it’s probably true.
I don’t see the strategic imperative other than perhaps denying the Russians a warm water port for their navy and for exporting oil thru a trans-afghan pipeline.